MONKEY WITH A TOOL BELT BLASTS OFF!

A toolbelt-clad monkey named Chico Bon Bon flies out to fix the Moon Malt machine at the Superstar Space Station and discovers an unlikely suspect plugging up the machine.

With his trusty co-pilot, an elephant named Clark, Chico Bon Bon flies the Banana 5 into the space station and is greeted by a captain eager to get the Moon Malt machine fixed. Chico checks the machine but cannot discover the problem until he opens the top and removes a part. A fast-flying purple entity bursts out of the machine and zips through several levels of the space station before Chico catches it in a net. It’s a small, fuzzy creature, “possibly THE CUTEST ALIEN IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE UNIVERSE!!” Clark and Chico take good care of the frightened creature, finding out where she came from with the help of a translating bot who deciphers Boodie Boo language, getting her back to her pod, and repairing it so she can head home. Monroe’s detailed drawings, done in an appealingly childlike style, combine with narration and speech bubbles to tell this humorous, imaginative tale, which is lighthearted and silly but has enough heart to merit space on the shelves of space lovers, handy kids, and anyone looking for a giggle and a smile. Chico’s serene competence, particularly when juxtaposed against Clark’s good-natured bumbling, may mitigate concerns some readers will feel about yet another anthropomorphic-monkey book.

A fun and satisfying journey.